The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (FCCA) has initiated further proceedings concerning a transaction according to which Posti Group Oyj is to gain control over Suomen Transval Group Oy.
Posti Group Oyj is the parent company of the Posti Group and can participate in business operations that support the operations of its subsidiaries. Business operations of Posti Group subsidiaries include delivery of mail and messages, logistics operations, service and information logistics operations, payment transaction and credit institution operations and real estate business.
Suomen Transval Group Oy is an internal logistics company that implements internal logistics solutions for logistics and industrial sites. Transval’s customer base consists primarily of operators of different sizes in the commercial, industrial and logistics sectors.
Based on the FCCA’s preliminary investigation, the acquisition may have adverse effects on competition in the market for outsourced internal logistics services, particularly for 3PL (3rd party logistics) operators who are Posti’s competitors and use internal logistics outsourcing services provided by Transval. 3PL operators include PostNord, DHL, DSV and Schenker, among others.
The FCCA considers it necessary to continue clarifying the competitive effects of the transaction. In its further investigation, the FCCA will examine whether the planned acquisition significantly impedes effective competition in the Finnish market, or a substantial part of it. The FCCA may approve the acquisition as such, attach conditions to the approval or request that the Finnish Market Court prohibit the acquisition. According to the Competition Act, the further proceedings may not take longer than three months.
The FCCA’s decision includes business secrets of the parties involved. The decision cannot be published until the business secrets have been removed.
Further information:
- Research Officer Taru-Tuulia Tammi, tel. +358 (0)29 505 3024
- Research Officer Jenna Huttu, tel. +358 (0)29 505 3576
firstname.lastname@kkv.fi
According to the Competition Act, the FCCA must be notified of a transaction if the combined turnover of the parties to the corporate transaction exceeds 350 million euros and the turnover from Finland of at least two of the parties exceeds 20 million euros for both. The FCCA will approve a corporate transaction if it has none of the harmful impacts referred to in the Competition Act. The FCCA will intervene in corporate transactions if its investigations suggest that the acquisition substantially impedes effective competition on Finnish markets or a substantial part of the markets, particularly through the creation or reinforcement of a dominant market position. Where necessary, notifications of acquisitions are considered in two stages. The so-called first stage takes a month at most. If the acquisition is clearly not harmful to competition, or if the harmful effects can be prevented by means proposed by the parties to the acquisition, the acquisition is approved during the first stage. If not, the FCCA decides to conduct a further investigation of the matter, during which the acquisition and its competition effects are investigated in further detail.